Operation Liberty Gold
by Thoth the Monkey
Summary: Ghost Recon is assigned to free two American journalists held in North Korea. Two RAINBOW operatives are undercover, and fell in love. Tracy Woo x Pak Suo-Won. Apologies for grammar mistakes and plot holes. Free Eunja Lee & Laura Ling!
1. Day

Operation Liberty Gold - RAINBOW

**Disclaimer**: Apart from the standard line that the characters here are properties of the Tom Clancy estate and Ubisoft, there's the ethic issue. Yes, this story is related to real-life journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee who are unfairly imprisoned by the North Korean dictatorship.

I'm not a Westerner, but like every other sane people in the planet, terrorists and totalitarians disgust me. Like many others, I wish there are real organizations like RAINBOW or Ghost Recon that can rapidly and effectively tackle terrorists and rogue militia – and that democratic leaders don't hesitate to use them.

I'm not well-versed with the Ghost Recon and H.A.W.X lore, so apologies if I get their traditions wrong. Same goes with North Korean geography, or with US military tactics and procedures (come on, this is fanfiction, not Tom Clancy's novel).

Tracy Woo woke up and saw dust.

The world around her was dusty. Everything was brown and dirty.

Grew up in the privileged part of Los Angeles, she had sometimes wondered what it liked to live in the slums or the ghetto. She had taken part in many RAINBOW operations around the world. But everything took 48 hours at the latest, plus being the field psychologist and negotiator, she usually was placed behind the lines.

For the past ten days, she had lived like the North Koreans do – living on cold, dust, hunger, and oppression. She was groomed to look, and act, like a regular North Korean housewife. And her coach was smiling at her from across the room.

She smiled back at Suo-Won. He was making breakfast of fish and rice. Tracy rose from the bed, put in her underwear and dress, and washed her face.

She was eating breakfast with Suo-Won silently. They had been living together as a couple in a rural house not far from Hoeryong concentration camp, also known as Camp 22.

Not long after North Korea sentenced two U.S. journalists to hard labor in the camp, the U.S. government decided to free them in a covert operation. The Company D, 1st Battalion, of the U.S. Army Special Forces ("Ghost Recon") would raid the camp under the umbrella of U.S. Air Force's H.A.W.X. unit – and with the U.S. Navy as backup.

RAINBOW operatives Pak Suo-Won and Tracy Woo were there for intelligence purposes. Pak had infiltrated North Korea for years for the South Korean Special Warfare Command and the KCIA. Even on the streets of Seoul, locals could mistake him for a Northern refugee, due to his acted accent and manner.

Tracy's induction to the operation was controversial. She was a psychologist and hacker, not a 'ninja'. She, however, was a childhood friend of a hostage and could recognize her in a second. They even fought over a same guy in UCLA. After considerations, intense interviews and reviews, RAINBOW Six Chavez and Rainbow Five Bishop agreed to enlist her. Tracy was tasked to make positive IDs on the Asian-American journalists from thousands of prisoners in the camp. Before the departure, she had received extra trainings from Maldini the Invisible Man and Yacoby the master assassin, as well from the sniper team. Heck, if time had permitted, perhaps Sam Fisher himself would have trained her.

As it happened, she and Pak entered North Korea and assumed the identities of spouses. Within a week they had expressed love on each other. Tracy loved his easy-going and cheerful personality, and his passion for his divided homeland. In return, he loved her independence and bravery.

The farm boy and the Valley Girl found love in one of the most oppressive places in the world. If they were compromised, not only they would end up in the same fate as their objectives, but the South Korean and American governments would be humiliated, RAINBOW's existence could be known, and at worst, war could be declared.

Even the successful operation still can carry the risk of war. No point for United States to deny that its military was attacking North Korean soil to liberate American citizens. If North Korea took it as a declaration of war, the first casualties would be not only U.S. soldiers on the DMZ or the people of South Korea, but also the residents of Japan, who North Korea hates dearly.

But it's clear that the journalists were used for bargain chips so that U.S. would nod to North Korean nuclear program; and Seoul would resume its financial and food aid. If these bargain chips could be stolen fast enough, North Korea could lose its initiative, shocked to see that U.S. could score a lightning hook, and was forced to reassess its military readiness. That was the desired outcome sought not only by Washington but also by Tokyo, which had been talking about pre-emptive strike against Pyongyang.

Both RAINBOW and Ghost Recon had known what they were up against. Camp 22 was a massive complex with hundred of well-armed guards. Pak's record and satellite recon had pointed a suspected location of the journalists – not really at the heart of the complex, but not really at the edge either. They still had to fight their way in.

Fortunately, the outline of the complex – separated into self-contained clusters - meant it was easy to Ghost & H.A.W.X. to establish the defense perimeter. Sure, the guards could send in their vehicles, APCs, and probably light tanks, but the Americans were ready for that. A U.S. Navy battle group was stationed at the East Sea/Sea of Japan to anticipate if North Korean Air Force intervened. Even the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Air Self-Defense Force were on alert for "possible hostile provocation" from North Korea.

In the afternoon Suo-Won and Tracy were working on the farm. They were sticking together if they went to the town or if somebody was approaching the farm. If somebody was curious, Tracy's cover was that she was a silent and passive bride from China. Tracy had learnt Mandarin Chinese in university, and learnt some Korean from her L.A. friends and from Pak, but her accent and manner, once unleashed, would give her away immediately.

Suo-Won had spent some good week in the pub with some of the camp's guards and found them were pretty loose with information. Of course, he would not ever underestimate them, but some of the drunken (or green) guards were the best info available for him. His cover was he just came from another province (the one he was familiar with, in case somebody knew somebody there) and just inherited the farm from his late 'uncle' (who was in fact, on his way to freedom in South Korea, trekking via China and Vietnam).

In the late afternoon they uploaded the latest intelligence. Afterward they were sleeping, cuddling each other. At night, Operation Liberty Gold started.


	2. Night

Operation Liberty Gold - Ghost

The Nighthawks were flying above the East Sea. Avoiding the radars and the Coast Guard were not the hardest thing in the world. Everyone abroad, however, remembered Operation Eagle Claw, the 1979 disastrous Delta Force operation – that ended when two birds were colliding, instantly taking the lives of best fighting men prepared to liberate the American Embassy staff.

Operation Liberty Gold was supposedly 'easier' than Eagle Claw. The target was located not far from the sea, not deep inside Iran (and close to Soviet Union) as what the Delta had to negotiate with. The number of hostages was only two, not sixty. And the tangos were expendable enemy soldiers, not thousands of angry civilians.

The risks, however, were also high. As well as the threat of war - whether the mission was successful or not - there was always the chance that they raided the wrong prison or wrong camp, that the prisoners had been moved (as what had happened in Vietnam), or if the North Koreans reacted faster than they thought.

Finally, they felt uneasy that the most important part of the mission, identifying two bald prisoners, fell to RAINBOW. They were CTs designed to fight hotheads with guns and germs, not infantries trained to face heavily armed professional military. Worse, the trigger was a police. She was better to stay alive or they were going to be screwed, but nobody could be sure if bank robbers with Uzi or some Eurotrash hackers could be more dangerous than the People's Army.

They reached the target at 0310. Immediately the Black Raptors dropped their bombs on the camp's defense and communication systems, including on a mobile SAMs base. In two minutes two Blackhawk choppers hovered over the designated bloc, neutralizing guards and creating defense perimeter. The Little Bird helicopters intercepted camp's vehicles.

Another chopper had picked up the two RAINBOW operatives from the farm, already clad in combat gears. Two gunners on board were ready for any possible RPG threat. They flew to join the other Ghost teams inside the prison.

In America and other places, the Third Echelon was working around the clock with their South Korean and Japanese counterparts to jam and disrupt all accessible North Korean communication lines.

Pak and Woo tailed Ghost Recon operatives in entering the prison compound. They killed everyone identified as guards. All the prisoners were yelling and seeking attention, and it put all the Americans under some stress. _Come on, where the hell are them? _

"There! There she is!" Tracy pointed to a frantic girl. She was trying to outshout the other women by shouting her name and yelling "I'm an American!"

They unlocked her cell and grabbed her. Tracy felt her tears running seeing her childhood friend in misery. She wanted to hug her – but she couldn't even let her know who she was yet.

"Where's the other one?" a Ghost asked her.

"In the infirmary – her ulcer struck again," she pointed.

"Over there," Pak pointed, took a reference from the mental note he had drawn from the guards he befriended.

Three Ghosts rushed at the direction, killed any non-prisoner standing on their way, and grabbed the second American. She was crying uncontrollably when the Ghosts brought her into the group.

"Alright, go! Go! Go!" The team leader waved. "The kids are in, repeat, the kids are in!"

The battle was heating outside with more guards coming in. The Ghosts were hurling the hostages into a chopper and RAINBOW jumped in.

"Third Base, Third Base!" The signal was given for all units to get out. Two Ghosts were KIAs, another was critically injured. They were dragged to the nearest helicopter. A Little Bird managed to avoid an RPG and retaliated accordingly.

Getting out, of course, carried the greater stake. The anti-air defense must have been alerted and there was a chance that the air force had been dispatched.

"Sheriff John, this is Lizardman. We have contact of…four Su-27 coming our way," a H.A.W.X pilot notified the control.

"Roger Lizardman. Fire at will when bandits breaching perimeter,"

"Feet wet," The main Blackhawk chopper notified when they had entered the sea. On that cue, two Navy F-14 Super Tomcats were leaving; ready to reinforce the American rear guard. If they had to shoot down the North Korean Air Force, however, they had to do it from the international waters. The H.A.W.X, however, was permitted to defend the Americans on North Korean territory, since they didn't exist.

"You girls are going home," Tracy smiled at the hostages.

"Oh my god! You're…"

"Yes, I'm Tracy. The friend who goes to hell and back to save you," she hugged them and three of them were crying tears of joy.

"God, oh thank you, thank you so much…oh god…this is really happening….thank you…"

"We've become like the Spartans…even our women are made of iron and brimstones…" a Ghost commented to his friend, praising the two journalists who marched boldly to expose injustices made to the North Korean people, were abducted from China, and shamelessly used as hostages. He was also praising the Californian girl who survived two weeks of living under cover, eluding secret police, paranoid guards, and nosy civilians.

The Su-27s didn't have a chance. Lizardman's wingman shot down two on the coast, and the U.S. Navy shot down the third. The fourth, knowing that it was worse to return to base, made a suicidal strike toward the Tomcats and was promptly shot down.

The chopper landed on USS _George Washington_. Tracy offered herself to provide counseling for her friends. She was permitted to accompany them, but as soon as the carrier docked in Japan, the journalists were quarantined and Tracy was flown back to England for debriefing.

The gambit worked. North Korea was so shocked with the assault that they said that they had released the hostages on the basis of "unmatched wisdom and compassion of our Great Leader". The credit for their releases was given to a senior American politician and peace activist. Russia, which had monitored the U.S. Navy activity on the Sea of Japan, was content enough to look the other way and to let North Korea get a lesson for once. China claimed it didn't know anything, but was happy that "peace and mutual respect prevail".

Few months later, both Tracy Woo and Pak Suo-Won resigned from RAINBOW and moved together to Los Angeles. Tracy returned to LAPD as a negotiator and surveillance instructor, while Suo-Won became military consultant for Hollywood studios and opened a leadership school for Asian-American youth.


End file.
